| Chinese province bans abortion drugs due to gender imbalance worries |
BEIJING, Jan 3 (AP) -- Over-the-counter abortion drugs have been banned in China's most populous province as part of an effort to control a disproportionately high number of newborn boys, a state newspaper reported Wednesday.
Gender selection of babies is a serious problem in China, with strict population controls and traditional preferences for a son meaning some women abort their baby if an early term sonogram shows it to be a girl.
China prohibits abortions performed after a scan for the baby's sex except for medical reasons, such as severe birth defects or when the mother's life is at risk. But the government says the practice remains widespread, especially in rural areas.
The China Daily paper said the central province of Henan banned retail sales of abortion drugs from Jan. 1 "as part of the province's efforts to keep gender balance among newborns."
The communist government has limited most urban couples to one child and rural couples to two since the 1970s in an effort to restrain the growth of China's population, now at more than 1.3 billion people, and conserve scarce resources.
Critics say the policy has led to forced abortions, sterilizations and a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio due to the deep-rooted preference for male heirs.
According to China's last census in 2000, there were more than 118 boys born in Henan for every 100 girls, much higher than the average for industrialized countries of between 104 and 107 boys for every 100 girls.
The newspaper said those who violated the ban would be fined from 3,000 yuan (US$385) to 20,000 yuan (US$2,560), and that any woman who had her baby aborted illegally would be fined 2,000 yuan (US$256).
"The move can be seen as a supportive measure for a set of regulations to ban fetal gender selection by abortion in the province, which took effect on January 1," the state Xinhua News Agency said.
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